The start of the 2024-25 college hockey season is here. Across the NCAA landscape are players who have departed from programs in favor of other colleges or the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Miami University hockey program is dealing with all of those factors amid a significant overhaul, making the upcoming season all the more interesting.
Everything starts with the new head coach, Anthony Noreen, formerly of the Tri-City Americans. He brings almost an entirely new staff save for Zack Cisek, who was with Miami under the previous regime.
Assistant coaches Troy Thibodeau and David Nies, as well as Lionel Mauron, the newest staff member, make up the roundtable of voices helping to rebuild the program through transfers and recruiting.
Mostly returning players make up the roster, especially in the junior class. Among that group is Johnny Waldron. He scored nine goals and 13 assists in 36 games, returning as the highest-scoring player from last season.
Senior forward Raimonds Vitolins was the next-highest producer with 17 points in 28 games. He missed several games last season due to injury but was a consistent contributor in the top six when healthy.
Three sophomores are also returning: goaltender Bruno Bruveris, defenseman Rihards Simanovičs and forward Tanyon Bajzer.
However, some older players are also in their “sophomore seasons” with the RedHawks.
Vitolins, junior forward Brayden Morrison, senior defenseman Spencer Cox and graduate student Ryan Sullivan are all upperclassmen with various experiences at other programs and one full year of experience at Miami.
Other veterans, like graduate student defensemen Dylan Moulton and Hampus Rydqvist, have spent their entire collegiate careers at Miami. Their presence and example are as important as any for the new faces trying to learn the ropes.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) hosts several tough teams, including the reigning national champions, the Denver University Pioneers. After winning just one conference game last season, Miami’s ship needs to be righted. But that requires time and cohesion, especially with the number of new RedHawks.
Six first years on the 2024-25 roster hail from all over the hockey world.
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Casper Nässén, a 2023 seventh-round draft pick of the NHL’s Boston Bruins, and Teodor Forssander are from Sweden. The other four players – Michael Quinn, John Emmons, Ethan Dahlmeir and David Grosek – represent several states in the United States.
Through the transfer portal, Noreen and his staff were able to recruit newcomers from more recently successful programs. Two graduate-student transfers, Christophe Fillion and Colby Ambrosio, are big-name acquisitions for a program trying to reinstate itself in the college hockey lexicon.
Fillion spent four years at Quinnipiac University, where he won a national championship with the Bobcats in 2023. He’s coming off his best goal-scoring season, with 12 goals and 19 points in 39 games.
Ambrosio skated with the Boston College Eagles for four years before deciding Miami was the place for him. The Eagles were favorites to win the national championship last year, but he gained plenty of experience by practicing with players who have a bright future in the NHL, like Will Smith, Gabriel Perreault, Ryan Leonard and Cutter Gauthier.
The 2020 fourth-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche is coming off a season in which he only scored eight points in 40 games. However, Ambrosio has shown he can produce when given opportunities, scoring 43 points in 74 games the prior two seasons with the Eagles.
Because of the high-profile programs Fillion and Ambrosio come from, it’s easy to overlook another transfer who could be vital in the RedHawks offense this season: senior forward Matt Choupani.
The Montreal native spent three years at Northeastern University before transferring to Miami. Last season, he scored 12 points in 28 games, tying his career high in assists with nine. His career high in goals came the season prior with 10, but his speed and tenacity will be huge tools for a RedHawks team looking to play with consistent pace.
Unlike last season, where Logan Neaton was the starter from day one, the goaltending situation for the RedHawks is more up in the air.
Bruveris is Miami's most experienced goaltender, which isn’t saying much since he has only been with the team for a year. In 15 games last season, he posted a 4.15 goals against average (GAA) with a .866 save percentage (SV%).
The numbers aren’t entirely indicative of his play, and they are in the same vicinity as his only other counterpart with college playing experience.
Brett Miller, another transfer from the Northeast out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has played fewer college games than Bruveris despite having three more seasons in a college program. He played seven games in 2023-24 with a 3.78 GAA and .888 SV%.
The final member of the three-man tandem is Dahlmeir. The first-year stands at 6 feet 4 inches and played 48 games with the United States Hockey League’s Des Moines Buccaneers. He finished last season with a 2.96 GAA and a .900 SV%.
Every player coming into the program knew there were no promises of a particular position in the lineup. Considering the overall lack of college experience between the three goaltenders, there will be extra competition to earn the starting job.
The RedHawks face an uphill battle in 2024-25. The NCHC is arguably the best conference in college hockey, and there is a fair share of players with little to no experience consistently playing at the NCAA Division 1 level. But with that inexperience comes players already with the program and coming in from the outside with a wealth of experience.
Noreen and his staff have assured RedHawks hockey fans everywhere that no matter the opponent, no matter the venue and no matter the year or skill of the player taking the ice in a Miami uniform, the team will play with a particular identity focused on hard work, cohesion, intensity and accountability.
The puck drops on the RedHawks season at 8:07 ET at Ferris State University on Friday, Oct. 4.
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